Bringing Rain To The Desert
by insanity under the moonlight
Summary: when naruto first told her grandpa aboout her new dream to become hokage, his responce isn't nearly what she expected. will love form through forced bonds or will both go on surviving rather then truly living? femnaru.
1. Chapter 1

i iknow i know! i should be working on swept into a maelstrom! but i had this story all mapped out and everything plus i really like this pairing. that also means this story will be update way faster.

It was a warm spring day in konoha, everyone was bustling around to prepare for the third kazekage's arrival, trying to make their business look as appealing as possible hoping a visit from him would improve their sales. After not too long he arrives with his two bodyguards, the kazekage takes a deep breath, breathing in the scent of cherry blossoms, carried in the breeze.

"kazekage sama I'm here to escort you to hokage sama's office" a cat masked anbu politely calls his attention.

As they strolled to the hokage's office, civilians bowed while the ninja only nodded in respect, but they didn't even look in acknowledgement.

"ah welcome to konoha kazekage san, I hope you had a safe journey" the fourth hokage minato namikaze greeted with humor in his voice.

"yes thank you, and I must say konoha is truly beautiful in the spring hokage san" he said with just as much mocking in his voice.

"hahaha, screw the formalities long time no see daisuke!" minato said with a large grin on his face.

"heh heh yes indeed, how've you been minato"

"good and well…how have you been holding up?" he asked suddenly becoming somber.

"…I've been managing. It's been hard caring for gaara, with shukaku and everything, not to mention temari and kankuro…" he said trailing off.

"I must give you condolence on your wife's passing. She truly was a wonderful person" minato said with genuine remorse, having met the woman himself once he still truly felt the loss.

"thank you minato" he said with a small smile.

"have a seat" minato said gesturing to the chair across from him "now let's get down to business" minato said getting serious.

Daisuke started them off "the relations between suna and konoha has gotten a little shaky since our daimyo has been giving more missions to konoha due to the cost being lower, leaving some of the suna shinobi and even the council worried that you'll bleed us dry of funding. Some people have gone as far as to speculate you'll break off the alliance with suna after you've taken a large margin of our income and turn on us while were economically crippled. The amount of mistrust between our shinobi hasn't reached dangerous levels yet but if we leave this unchecked it could escalate, leaving both countries even further vulnerable after the war. So any ideas on how to crush the seeds of doubt?" They took a moment of silence to think on how to solve the matter at hand. The kazekage was the one to break the silence with his idea.

"I…think I have a possible solution…" he thought aloud

"you do? Then please share 'cause I got nothing"

"you're having a daughter correct"

"yes, it was confirmed recently" minato said not knowing where his long-time friend was going

"then how do you feel about an arranged marriage between them? It kills two birds with one stone. Not only will it show that you trust your firstborn in the hands of suna, they will also think of it as an insurance policy: we go down; you lose your daughter showing your faith in us. And I also think it would be a good arrangement because if I had to trust my son to anyone…I know he would be well taken care of if she's anything like you or your wife, I honestly fear for his future. The life of a jinchuriki is a hard one and especially as the ichibi container the lack of sleep will make him unstable. If need be, I will train him to be the best"

minato was shocked at the suggestion of marrying off his daughter before she was even born but at the same time it solved the problem 'Leave it to daisuke to find the best solution that also ends in my bodily harm' minato thought before agreeing "it has sound reasoning so I don't see why not…"

"why so hesitant?"

"I'm just thinking about how I'm going to convince kushina" minato shivered at the thought

"haha, I'm sure she'll understand" he said smirking

"well if you're so sure then why don't you tell her!"

"I'm not stupid or suicidal, I said she'll understand not like it. good luck with that" he said as he stood up from his chair.

"just promise you'll visit my grave…" minato said as he too stood up and shook hands with his friend. With an eye roll he replied "I promise" minato pulled one of his closest friends into a comforting embrace before seeing him off to his hotel, who after a nights rest would head back to suna.

~7 month time skip~

The roar of the nine-tailed fox echoed through konoha as it laid waste, swinging its mighty tails that were have said to destroy mountains from a mere flick. In the heart of the madness man and his wife were facing off with the strongest bijuu, planning to seal it into one of the very few miracles of this nightmare.

"Ready to do this minato?" kushina asked exhaustedly as she held down the kyuubi with her chakra chains.

"as ready as anyone can be" he said with a tired smile "Shiki Fuujin!" the death god emerged from behind minato, plunging its hands into his soul while drawing on the kyuubi's to seal it into minato and naruto's bodies, sealing their fates. When the kyuubi realized what was happening it sent its giant claws to impale its future container, but was just barley stopped by kushina and minato moving in the way.

With a bloody cough kushina sighs in relief "she's safe. Everyone's safe. We did it minato. Im just so sorry naru chan will have to grow up without us" she said with tears in her eyes, minato gave a pained smile, blood dyeing his mouth red "we still have a bit of time, why don't we say goodbye"

crying kushina said her final words to her beloved child, the one they condemned to the life of a jinchuriki. "Naruto, beat up any boys that pick on you, make lots of friends, you better eat your vegetables or ill come after you, and no matter what…never…forget we love you...no matter what you do"

minato's voice shook from the loss of his wife and his own creeping death "your mother covered all the important stuff…heh heh…she's such a chatterbox…you'll do great things…and change people…I know you will…because we will always believe in you…" with a final shuddering sigh minato passed on, their corpses fell to the floor as the kyuubi's form disappeared. Konoha was in silence from the shock of it all, the sudden attack, the loss of their loved ones, seeing the kyuubi disappear before their eyes, and realizing they survived it all. Suddenly the silence was shattered by the cheers that erupted for their kage, unaware of his sacrifice.

~time skip to after the funeral~

It was a cool autumn day, the eternally green leaves of konoha's trees swayed in the breeze. An auburn haired man without eyebrows stood in front of a memorial holding a pink bundle in his arms "I kept my promise, minato…" with tears rolling down his cheek he looked into the large innocent eyes of his old friend's carbon copy "you're legacy and mine…what a pair they will be"

the man turned away from the grave and walked back to the main streets of konoha, heading for the hokage tower. After receiving permission to enter the office he opened the door to see a painful reminder of the man who used to sit there is gone.

"hopefully it wasn't too cold outside for little naruto" The third hokage was sitting at the desk, fully decked out in the hokage hat and robes.

"it was a bit chilly but the blanket and coat was enough" he replied respectfully.

"I wonder how all this will work out…everything's a mess, naruto is an orphan without a caretaker, the villagers and even some shinobi haven't taken well to the news of her jinchuriki status, and I'm not sure how that even leaked out" with a wiry sigh sarutobi's smile turned into a bitter one "thank you for watching her this afternoon. I'm sure it only worsened your grief, but I don't know who she's safe with right now…I'm too old for this job...sorry for making you listen to an old man's troubles"

the kazekage shifted from foot to foot as he said "uh, it's no problem I never got the chance to meet my future daughter-in-law anyways…" he handed her back to the sandaime

"ah yes, she's betrothed to your youngest son gaara who is also jinchuriki correct?" he asked as he accepted naruto into his arms

"that is correct, he's the container of the ichibi"

"hm…the one and the nin-tails…kitsune and tanuki…the desert and the forest…if their anything like their parents then they're going to be polar opposites, what a headache this'll be…" the third grumbled to himself. The kazekage chuckled at his expense "I don't see what your laughing about, you're the one who's going to be stuck with them" sarutobi said smugly as he heard the laugh die in his throat.

"I must be heading back now, my absence was hastily planned so I could attend the funeral so I can't afford to stay long" with a shallow bow the kazekage left the office.

~time skip 4 years~

A 4 year old Uzumaki naruto ran through the streets towards the hokage tower as if the kyuubi itself were on her heels, she bolted up the flights of stairs heading for the top of the tower where her grandfather figure was, ignoring the chaos her rush created though out the hallways. She tried to skid to a stop when she reached her destination but the momentum was too much, causing her to collide with the door.

"naruto?" she groaned as she tried to focus her vision.

"how many times have I told you not to run in the hall" said the third hokage, hiruzen sarutobi also known as old man or grandpa by naruto. With a chuckle the hiruzen picked up naruto from the floor and placed her on his hip.

"so what brings you here in such a hurry?" he positioned her to sit on his lap when he reclaimed his chair.

"guess what gramps!" she said excitedly.

with a chuckle he asked "what? Naru chan"

with a big grin on her face she said "I know what I want to be when I grow up!"

"oh? And what is that?" he asked as he signed paperwork.

"I wanna be- uh what did you call it again…oh yeah! I wanna be the hokage!" she yelled.

"what's the matter?" she asked much less excited after she noticed her grandfather wasn't as happy about it as she was.

"naruto…I'm sorry but you can't be hokage" he tried to break the news to her as gently as possible.

"wh-what? Why!" sarutobi began to quickly explain before she began one of her explosive temper tantrums that was surely on its way from the news.

"no, no it's not that I don't think you can do it! its just that…when the time comes you'll have to leave Konoha"

"h-huh! Why?! Is it because im bad? Im sorry grampa! I've been trying to be good, really! Shima actually broke the vase! I just covered for him cuz he said he would play with me!" by now naruto was in tears at the thought of her grandfather abandoning her.

"what! No naruto it isn't anything you've done! Calm down you won't have to leave for a long time" he said as he wiped away her tears, which naruto took as a signal to wipe her runny nose on his robes. Grimacing he continued to explain her situation "so the reason you can't be hokage is because before you're even old enough or have the experience to qualify for the job, you'll be living in suna-"

"suna?" naruto interrupted "isn't it that desert place you told me about before? Why do I have to go there?"

sighing the sandaime finished explaining "because you've been arranged to be in a political marriage with the kazekage's son"

"what! I have to get married! Does that mean I haf'ta kiss 'im and stuff?! Ew! Yuck! I don't wanna marry him!"

with a laugh the sandaime reassured her "don't worry, you won't even have to think about it for a long time. Now how about you go colour at the table so I can finish my work, then we can go out for ramen"

"yay!"

~time skip 8 years~

"konohamaru, run." naruto said to him after he thought it would be a good idea to make a crack at sakura's forehead. As they were making their escape naruto let konohamaru get ahead to make sure sakura didn't kill him, but quickly sped up after she hear konohamaru cry out in distress.

"hey watch where you're going shrimp!" naruto rounded the corner to see konohamaru being held up by the scruff of his shirt.

"hey! put him dow-pfft hahaha! what-what are you wearing!" as naruto was in the middle of demanding his release of konohamaru she took the time to appreciate the boys outfit and couldn't help but burst out laughing.

"what wrong with my outfit?!" he yelled back at her.

"what's wrong with it? what's right with it! You're wearing more makeup then a clown, and a black one piece with cat ears for god's sake! What would possess you to wear these things in one outfit, you look ridiculous! I could only imagine how hilarious it must be to catch you in the rain, makeup all smeared!" naruto went into another fit of laughter, now konohamaru and the blond girl behind them laughing as well.

Now dropping konohamaru he rushed naruto hoping to get in a good hit, when he was suddenly hit on the side of the head by a pebble.

"you shouldn't be causing so much trouble in a foreign village" came the cool voice of sasuke from the tree branch above them.

"and naruto, no matter how true it is you shouldn't be making enemies before the exam" he scolded Naruto.

'sasuke kun is so cool!' were the love struck thoughts of sakura as her eyes sparkled from sasuke's cool entrance.

"get over here you little punk!" the poorly dressed boy yelled.

"Kankuro stop it before gaara comes back, not that I'm going to save you, I have no part in this"

the boy now identified as Kankuro said "shut up temari I'm just having some fun before the chuunin exam tomorrow, besides these brats started it"

"and you'll finish it later" a cold voice coming from above sasuke interrupted.

Sasuke jumped down to face the new comer in case they were looking for a fight only to see a boy hanging upside down on a tree branch, he had fair skin and short spiky auburn hair that was parted to show the kanji for love was carved in his forehead, the tanuki-like black rings around his eyes drew her attention to his cold sea foam green eyes and she was frightened when they looked back at her

"g-gaara! I-"

"shut up. You're disgracing our village"

he finally looked away when sasuke asked "What's your name?"

"me?" temari asked slightly blushing

"no. him" sasuke said pointing to gaara, disappointing her.

Gaara shunshined from his branch to stand in front of sasuke "sabaku no gaara. And you are?"

"Uchiha sasuke" he introduce himself with a smirk.

"i hope we meet in battle soon then, uchiha sasuke" and with that they began to walk away.

"wait!" naruto yelled at them.

"I still haven't introduced myself! I'm Uzumaki naruto soon to be konoha's strongest kunoichi!" she said with a huge smile on her face.

"hn…I'll keep that in mind" gaara responded sounding like he didn't care at all. Naruto puffed out her cheeks and stomped her foot in anger at being dismissed so easily.

'if he isn't going to acknowledge me, I'll make him! Just like the rest of them!' naruto thought to herself.

"naruto stop staring off into space, don't you have to meet the hokage for something important like- 5 minutes ago!" sakura said yelling at her forgetful teammate.

"its not my fault sakura chan! you're the one who started chasing kono and I had to make sure you didn't strangle him but that cosplaying guy beat you to it, leading to a bigger waste of time!" naruto yelled back.

"just go your late enough! And don't forget were having a team meeting at the barbeque restaurant!" sakura yelled after her as she ran to the hokage tower.

"sorry I'm late I had to save kono from being beaten to a pulp-" naruto yelled as she burst into the office but blinked when she saw the redhead from a few minutes ago.

"hey! It's you from just before!" naruto said as she pointed at him.

"well I'm glad you've already met but please sit so we can go over some things" the sandaime said as he motioned for her to sit down next to the boy.

"as you're both aware you have an arranged marriage with someone correct" they nodded in affirmation naruto filling with dread.

"well meet you future spouse" sarutobi said cheerfully, fully aware of what happened at the tree earlier.

"what!" naruto shrieked, he could tell gaara was going through the same amount of shock from his eyes almost bulging out of his skull.

"soon after naruto turns 16 you two will be living together in suna. So to make sure you can at least function with each other, you gaara will be courting her starting today. It's been arranged that you two will have a dinner at a restaurant tonight to get to know each other, and escort will take you there be ready for them to come at eight o'clock sharp. Understood?" he said all business.

"y-yes…" naruto stammered while gaara only nodded.


	2. Chapter 2

I just have to say thank you all for your reviews, follows, and favorites, they give me the confidence to keep writing! Also if you see mistakes don't be afraid to point them out or they'll never be corrected.

Naruto walked through the streets in a daze, for once not even noticing the people glaring at her on the way to meet her team. She temporarily snapped out of her daze when she hit her head on the door of the restaurant, after trying to pull open a push door. Ignoring the few chuckles she received for that blunder, she found the booth her team was sitting at and plopped down in the chair.

"what took so long dobe, we already ordered for you" Sasuke asked uncaringly as he ate his salad.

"I'm getting married…" Naruto mumbled as she stared at the empty seat across from her. Kakashi spat out his mouthful of miso soup at the news

"What! What do you mean you're getting married!" he yelled causing everyone in the restaurant to look at their table.

"what I would like to know is how you're eating soup with your mask still on…" Sasuke muttered as he wiped kakashi's spit take off his face with a napkin.

"Are you pregnant!? Cause if you are so help me I'll kill the bastard who did it!" Kakashi said as he stood up.

"what! You're pregnant!" Sakura yelled just now returning from the bathroom.

"huh!?what! No! I'm not! I didn't say I was pregnant you morons where did you get that idea!" Naruto shouted while forcing Kakashi to sit back down.

"well you said you were getting married and I don't see any other reason if you're this young…" kakashi mumbled.

"um I'm sorry but if you don't keep it down I'm going to have to ask you to leave because you're disturbing the other costumers…" said a waitress trying to put an end to their shouting match.

"I'm sorry miss I haven't trained them properly, if they get out of hand again I'll take them outside" Sasuke apologized for them, being the only one at the table not making a huge ruckus.

Sasuke turned his to his team which by now was relatively calm again then looked back to the audience their commotion attracted "there's nothing to see here" he said with his trademark glare causing the onlookers to go back to their meals. With a sigh he turned his attention back to his team "so what's this about you getting married?"

Fixing her dishevelled jacket Naruto spoke "well when I was four the sandaime told me I was in an arranged marriage but I totally forgot since that was years ago and he distracted me with ramen right after telling me, so it came as a shock when he called me to his office to meet my future husband"

Sakura perked up from hearing the words marriage and future husband "oh my gosh I can't believe you're getting married! Is he hot?!" sakura practically squealed at the thought of herself marrying a hot guy, right now preferably Sasuke.

"I'm marrying that creepy red haired guy from the tree earlier" Sakura and Sasuke's eyes widened in shock.

"creepy red haired guy?" Kakashi asked confused.

"we met him and his team earlier when one of his teammates almost beat up hokage sama's grandson and he threatened to kill the guy for it, pale kid, has dark rings around his eyes, bright red hair, from suna, what was his name again…" Sakura said filling him in "Sabaku no Gaara" Sasuke supplied "we're going to fight in the chuunin exams tomorrow. I can tell he will be a strong opponent" Anticipation coloured his voice as he spoke.

"be careful not to underestimate your opponents sasuke, suna has been focusing on quality rather than quantity in their ninja recently so there's no doubt in my mind that he's no push over" Kakashi reprimanded Sasuke.

"when are you going on a date? What are you going to wear! I have to tell Ino about this! Oh! When's the wedding!" Sakura was bouncing in her seat in excitement.

"um, tonight at some restaurant, I don't know I think the old man said he was sending me a kimono, please don't tell Ino its equivalent of shouting it from the roof tops I'll tell them all myself sometime, and uh I don't know he said some time after I turn sixteen" Naruto listed off the answers in order the questions were asked.

"well okay…but you have to tell me the details of your date tomorrow!" Sakura leaned back in her seat satisfied with the answer.

"you guys better eat up before your food gets any colder" Kakashi pointed out the meal Naruto hadn't noticed had arrived "and don't forget to go to the academy on time to hand in your forms for the chuunin exam" Kakashi reminded them as they too began to dig in.

It was about six o'clock in the evening when Naruto heard a knock on her door, she slowly put down her book and pulled a kunai from her pouch on the nearby coffee table and slipped it into her sleeve. Slowly she opened the door "hello?"

suddenly her door was pushed all the way open as a small group of people came rushing in "well my dear what are you standing here for? Get moving!" a young woman said.

"w-wha?" Naruto confusedly.

"well what are you waiting for! Get in the shower!" said a larger, snobbish looking elder woman.

"wait what! Who are you people?!" said Naruto starting to get overwhelmed by the sudden rush of people.

"by the looks of it you need a good scrub-down, your skin is dry, we'll need to wash and moisturize your tangled hair, a full on manicure and pedicure, goodness me hokage sama really gave us a hard one with such little time!" the woman listed as she pushed Naruto into the bathroom.

"hey! I moisturize just fine thank you! And it's not my fault if my hair tangles easily! wait, wait, The old man sent you?" Naruto asked as her dropped kunai on the tile floor to unzip her jacket.

"that's hokage sama young lady! How rude! do you not know how to respect your elders, I ought to convince hokage sama to let give you etiquette lessons!" she said as she swatted Naruto on the head "now in the shower with you"

with a sigh Naruto was about to close the curtain behind her when it was yanked wide open by a woman with black hair. Naruto shrieked in shock and tried to cover herself up only to hear the woman say "please calm down mistress I'm just going to wash your hair" she said with a smile.

"uh, no thanks I can wash it myself…" Naruto mumbled creeped out as she began to slowly close the curtain again, only to be stopped by the woman "I'm sorry mistress but I was assigned to wash your hair, so I must" she persisted.

"I'm sorry but I'm not comfortable with…_this_" Naruto gestured with one hand trying to preserve what little was left of her modesty.

"I'm sorry but maybe you could just turn around and pretend I'm not here? Were in a bit of a rush so we have to overlap some of the scheduled treatments" she said trying to compromise.

With another sigh Naruto gave in and began to wash herself ignoring the extra set of hands working through her hair. After they both finished naruto walked back to the living room clad in only a blue towel to then notice a whole milk bath was prepared, with pink flower pedals floating in it.

In the middle of her living room.

"What is all this!" Naruto yelled at them.

"I told you, your skin is dry, so a milk bath with fix that right up! And the flower petals will make you smell divine, then you'll no longer have that putrid stench all ninja seem to have" the woman said turning her nose up.

"I don't smell! If anything that crap reeks, can you use something less strong if you have to add a sent" Naruto said fanning in front of her face. With a sigh the woman signaled for her assistants to pack up the bath and replaced it with one that had the light scent of cinnamon "Now get in"

Tentatively Naruto released her towel before stepping into the warm bath and let out a sigh of relief "hand please" a girl with light brown hair said.

"uh, sure" Naruto said giving her hand to her. The woman began to file her nails, giving them perfectly rounded tips; she then did the same with her toes while naruto soaked "now dry off and put on this robe for now, were going to begin picking out a furisode" accepting her towel naruto dried of and put on the offered white robe.

The woman began flipping through a catalog "furisode?" Naruto asked confused.

"it's a style of kimono that has long sleeves that go down to about your knees that young woman wear to formal events, it also shows that she's a legal adult and single, thus available for marriage" the woman said absently as looked for the right one. "I want to pick a colour that will really make you look feminine since you're rather rough around the edges…im thinking something with pink…ah! Here it is!" the woman said pointing to blue silk furisode with an ocean wave pattern, there was a branch of a sakura tree extending from the right side of it to part of the left knee length sleeve, the obi was red with a gold trim.

All of her assistants agreed with her choice as they also looked into their copies of the book "I think it would make her look adorable!, and since were going with the cute look that means we should also go light with the makeup and let her natural beauty shine through" said the woman a woman with platinum blond hair whom she didn't notice before.

"truly genius as always Hikari!" the elderly woman praised her "now let's get started!"

it took them a little over half an hour to properly put on and adjust the furisode to naruto's proportions, and when they were finished they weren't disappointed with their choice in outfit.

"now please go over to Megumi here and she'll apply a touch of makeup then then Yuna will style your hair" the woman said pointing to the brown and black haired girls from before.

With a sigh Naruto sat in the chair "so just how much makeup are you putting on?" she asked almost afraid of the answer.

"oh just some eye shadow, eyeliner, and mascara to really bring out you pretty eyes and maybe a little blush" Megumi said with a smile.

"uh sure" Naruto said not quite sure what all these things were.

With a giggle Megumi explained as she applied them "this here is eye shadow. You apply it to your eyelids to give them some colour and it makes your eye colour really stand out depending on what colour you chose. Now this is eyeliner. You trace it around your eyelids to get a more dramatic look. And finally mascara, you use it on your eyelashes to darken, curl, colour and thicken them. Then some blush, you use it to bring out your cheek bones. Last but certainly not least some clear lip gloss to finish it up!" after the ten minutes it took to apply all the makeup, Naruto learned a little about cosmetics and even the basics of how to apply them.

"now it's my turn, we're going to style your hair into an up-do. Did you know when you wear a kimono your neck must be free and showing?" said Yuna stepping in Megumi's place.

"really? Huh never knew. I've never worn any sort of kimono before…" Naruto said thinking.

Naruto sat bored as Yuna skillfully styled her hair into a curly bun with a comb hair ornament in it "all done!" Yuna announced as she clapped her hands together, she helped Naruto out of her chair and led her to the full body mirror set up near-by, Naruto stretched her limbs along the way, stiff from sitting still for so long.

Naruto gasped in shock from her reflection, her eyes looking wide and innocent from the emphasis of the eyeliner and mascara, the small amount of baby pink eye shadow making her eyes look a brighter blue than normal, the light blush made her look more feminine and delicate then anyone could have imagined she could've ever looked. Her intricately styled bun had two gold combs with sapphire gems sticking out on both sides giving them the shape of butterfly wings.

"Truly stunning, no?" the older woman whispered. Naruto could only nod in agreement.

with a chuckle the woman said "I'm sure your date will be spell bound by your beauty, here you need to wear the proper footwear as well" she said smiling as she handed over a pair of split toe socks and sandals "th-thank you, all of you" Naruto said smiling as she gratefully accepted the shoes.

"now don't you go crying, you'll ruin that make up I worked so hard on" said Megumi teasingly.

with a laugh Naruto said "the one who's crying is Hikari" and sure enough the blond was in tears looking at their hard work.

"i-I'm just so happy! B-before I used the term female loosely on you but now I see you were truly a diamond in the rough" she finished with a sniffle.

"…thaaanks" Naruto said not so please at what Hikari thought was a compliment to her.

A knock resounded through the house as another uninvited guest arrived "oh! Its time already! It must be your date, remember to act lady like!" Yuna yelled excitedly to her as she opened the door.

She was a little shocked to say the least.

"oh…uh I wasn't aware your date was so…old…" she said awkwardly as she stepped aside.

"old? He's my age" Naruto said confusedly as she walked to the door to see who it was.

Only to see Kakashi in all his masked glory "yo~" he said with his trademark eye smile.

"Kakashi sensei!? What are you doing here?" naruto asked confused.

"I'm your escort" he said cheerily.

"ohthankgod" Yuna said in relief then laughed "you know for a second there I thought you were a pedophile" she put her hand to her chest.

"you actually weren't that far off" Naruto muttered ignoring the wounded look on Kakashi's face.

"why are you my escort?" she said eye twitching.

"well I can't just trust one of my precious little students in the hands of complete strangers for a night" he said as if it were the most obvious thing in the world.

'besides I really want to scope out this _Gaara_ kid. If he wants my adorable little sister he's going to have to go through me first' Kakashi thought to himself as he pulled out a camera.

"what're-" Naruto stopped mid-sentence as she furiously blinked trying to get her vision back from the blinding flash of the photo.

"so cute" Kakashi said as he took another picture, this one had Naruto red with embarrassment in the picture, making Kakashi think this one looked even cuter.

"st-stop with the photos!" Naruto demanded.

"why? I want to show everyone how pretty you look the sandaime wanted a picture; I also promised sakura I'd get her a copy, not to mention I want one too. It's not every day I get to see you dressed so nicely, you look really girly" as kakashi rambled Naruto got more and more embarrassed at the thought of all these people seeing her like this.

"just take me to the restaurant already before were late!" Naruto yelled at him still red.

"alright, alright, now take my hand Naru-chan we wouldn't want you to get lost" he said as if speaking to a small child. Grumbling Naruto took his hand as they walked out the door, ignoring the girls giggles in the background as they packed up their small portable salon.

"oh wait! Hey grandma what's your name?" Naruto yelled back to them from the door way.

"how dare you call me a grandma! I'll be sure to beat some etiquette into you next time! And just call me Madam Haru" she introduced herself annoyed at the title Naruto gave her.

"my Name's Uzumaki Naruto! Again thanks for everything! Bye!" Naruto yelled as she closed the door.

"I'll leave a kagebushin to lock up the place after they leave" Kakashi said answering Naruto's unfinished thought.

People couldn't help but stare in awe as Naruto walked down the streets, it wasn't that wearing a kimono of any sorts was strange even though most people preferred western style clothes on regular days, it was that _Naruto_ the loud brash tomboy out of anyone was wearing one, and looked cute too as she blushed from all the attention.

"aw is Naru chan shy? I never knew you had such a soft side" Kakashi said teasing her.

Naruto decided to ignore him at that point and just stared ahead with a pout on her face, she soon started growling after being blinded again by the flash of his camera "are we almost there?" Naruto ground out irritably.

"what are you talking about Naru chan we just started walking" Kakashi said clearly enjoying himself.

"can't you just shunshin us there?!" Naruto yelled at him.

"but then we would miss out on all the sights and the fresh air as we peacefully stroll there" he said with a mask concealed grin.

"just do it" Naruto said glaring.

With a laugh Kakashi said taking a mock bow "as you wish princess" and quickly did the hand signs.

"don't call me prince-" Naruto's yell was cut off as they disappeared from the streets in a swirl of leaves.

The pair suddenly reappeared in front of a large high end restaurant with a bright neon sign that read le rouge maison in cursive red letters.

"here we are" Kakashi said leading her inside.

"reservation?" the employee at the front desk asked.

"yes Uzumaki Naruto and Hatake Kakashi here to dine with Sabaku no Gaara and Kaze no Baki" Kakashi answered professionally.

"ah yes, here you are, your company has already arrived not too long ago, this gentlemen here with show you to your tables" the man said politely.

"thank you" Kakashi said to the man as they walked away. They entered to restaurants main dining room to be greeted by the sound of clinking sliver wear to plate as people ate and conversed quietly, the sound reminding her of the low murmur of a brook.

"right this way" the man said leading them past several tables toward a less crowded area where is was also a bit quieter. "here we are" the man said as he pulled out Naruto's chair that was seated across from Gaara, who was wearing a grey kimono with a black haori over top, Kakashi took the seat across from Baki at a table a little ways away from theirs.

"here are your menus, please enjoy your night at le rouge maison" the waiter said before he left to serve another table.

For a few moments both Naruto and Gaara stared at each other "sooo…your names Gaara right…" Naruto said leaving her sentence hanging trying to start a conversation.

Taking his lack of response as a confirmation she continued to talk "well in case you forgot…my name is Naruto…" her voice trailed off as she didn't know where to go with the one-sided conversion from there.

"uh…so, um how did you first find out we were going to be married?" she said hoping to get him to say something, or at least get him to stop staring as if he thought it would make her go away, as tempting as it currently seemed.

After a bit of silence he finally decided to answer "…my father said this was my only use left since I was a failure as a weapon" his voice monotone and uncaring.

Naruto was unsure of how to respond to that so she tried asking another question "well…so uh, how do you feel about this whole…thing" she asked hoping to get a better idea of his personality.

"I hate it. especially the fact that I'll be stuck with someone as loud and annoying as Kankuro" he said bluntly.

"hey!" she yelled causing the nearby tables to look over.

"inside voice Naru chan" Kakashi reminded her with his nose stuck within the pages of his beloved icha icha, but that didn't mean he wasn't paying attention, in fact he was ready to strangle Gaara at a moment's notice.

She lowered her voice to a harsh whisper "I don't exactly want to be stuck with a emotionless stuck up prick for the remaining years of my life, but at least I'm trying. So the least you could do is be at least a _little_ flexible!" he glared harshly at her and this time she didn't back down from his intense stare, leveling it with her own.

"wow you can feel the tension from here" Kakashi said to Baki, still reading as they waited for their meals.

"well so far it's going better than anyone could have hoped for" Baki mumbled as he watched their glaring match. He wasn't sure if one of them had a lightning affinity but he was certain he saw sparks flying between them, and not the romantic kind either.

chapter 2 is done! celebrate my people, and wait in anticipation for the next one! oh my gosh when sasuke said he hadn't trained them properly i just suddenly thought of him whipping and yelling at them while they all kneel in a line (whether you take this as a sexual situation is up to you...) maybe i should make a misleading omake about that...


	3. Chapter 3

This chapter will mostly follow Gaara and his thoughts. I don't feel like re-writing all of cannon so I'm going to skip some general knowledge stuff and go more into detail of stuff that's usually skipped, well that and because I'm trying to avoid any fight scenes…

'ugh how infuriating…' were the thoughts of a certain red-haired insomniac.

'to be forced to live with such an annoying creature…and father was unusually forceful when he told me not to kill it' the subject of his ire was his soon to be wife and her less than submissive attitude.

'this would be so much easier if I could just give her blood to mother…she's unusually persistent about it…' as his thoughts became more unstable the sand around him began to shift uneasily causing the other occupants of the room to become more uneasy.

"Baki sensei what happened last night, he seems more pissy then usual" whispered Kankuro

"the girl he's betrothed to is more loud and annoying then you, and they spent pretty much the whole night glaring at each other so I guess he's also kinda pissed that she wasn't intimidated. He isn't exactly allowed to kill her so he's pretty much stuck with her" Baki answered

"hey, I'm not loud and annoying!" Kankuro yelled, contradicting his statement.

"you're right, you're also obnoxious, arrogant, and stupid" said Temari adding in her two cents, starting the first verbal sparring match of the day.

'And so it was another regular day with the Sabaku's…' were the pained thoughts of Baki.

Meanwhile in another part of town, a certain orange wearing girl was using some less than lady-like words to describe how things went the other night to the hokage. "and he had the nerve to call me annoying after that!"

"well I'm sorry to hear things didn't go as smoothly as either of us would have liked, but you have to at least try to envision how he feels about this whole thing too. I don't think marrying some complete stranger totally against his will, was part of his plans for the future either" Sarutobi said trying to calm her down.

"I don't see why I have to marry him! Whose genius idea was that anyways?!" Naruto complained

"look Naruto your marrying him for the good of both villages, and I'm sure he's not really such a bad guy. If you can become friends at the least things won't seem as bad, I'm sure you have a lot more in common than either of you realize" he said hoping to persuade her.

With a sigh, Naruto caved in "fine I'll try to be _friendlier_"

"good girl. Now you better get back home before you're late for the chuunin exams" he said, dismissing her with a smile.

"oh crap I forgot about that! Thanks! Bye!" Naruto yelled before bolting it back home.

'where is she?' were the impatient thoughts of Sasuke and Sakura, Though they were eagerly awaiting her arrival for two very different reasons.

"sorry im late!" yelled Naruto as she waved her signed form above her head while she ran towards them.

"it's fine, as long as you showed up before we're disqualified" said Sasuke as he turned to enter the school.

"tell me everything!" Sakura demanded as she practically dragged her into the building.

Naruto told them the whole story, from the invasion of her home to her incredibly tense diner as they walked up the stairs to where their exam room should have been.

"well that was rather disappointing…I was hoping for a more romantic story" Sakura grumbled feeling let down.

"hey guys we only walked up two flights of stairs right?" Sasuke asked as he saw a crowd of people gathered around a door that said room 301 at the end of the hall, supposedly where the first exam would take place.

"yeah, I know this place by heart from all the times I've run through it, so I can tell you with utmost certainty that is room number 201. Also known as a broom closet" Naruto said sounding almost proud.

"it's a genjutsu!-" Sakura said a little too loudly until Naruto covered her mouth. Luckily everyone was too distracted to notice.

"well then let's go break it and show them we aren't some no name weak gennin who would fall for such a cheap trick" Sasuke said with a cocky smirk.

"why do you think I just stopped Sakura from yelling it across Konoha? If we just sneak by or go around we can let these idiots fight for access to a broom closet and have less competition for promotion" Naruto explained as she dragged them down another hall.

"wow dobe, I never knew you could actually think things through so well" said Sasuke as he now walked on his own.

"and I always knew you had a bigger ego than brain" she responded as she guided them to a second staircase, then to the real exam room.

"well here we are! Ready to do this guys?" Naruto asked about to open the door

"yep!" Sakura responded confidently. After the wave mission the gennin realized they were really behind in the training department, so after a little "friendly chat" with Kakashi, they really upped their training regimen, even managing to learn a few new low-level jutsu. After Naruto pushed the door open, everyone in the nearly silent room turned their attention to them, but the glares didn't faze them as they skillfully used the art of ignoring people. The onlookers eventually gave up when they realized their intimidation tactic it wouldn't work.

"Sasuke-kun! Where've you been cutie?" Ino yelled as she hugged him from behind, shattering any semblance of calm in the room.

"get off him Ino-pig he's mine!" Sakura said as she tore her off

"hey guys! So you made it too?!" Kiba yelled from across the room as he walked towards them.

"troublesome" muttered the pineapple haired genius

"how've ya been whiskers?" Kiba asked putting his arm over naruto's shoulders

"ah I've been better kibbs" she said playfully elbowing him in the gut to get his arm off

"tell uncle Kiba what's troubling ya"

"maybe later, right now we have to get ready for the first exam"

"h-hello Naruto-chan" Hinata shyly greeted

"hey hina-chan! You look as adorable as always!" Naruto gushed as she hugged the life out of Hinata.

"you rookies should keep it down, this isn't a picnic. You're making everyone else in the room anxious and making a target of yourselves" said a white-haired boy who looked like he was in his late teens, with large circular glasses.

"tell you what. Since your all new to this I'll show you my ninja info cards"

"ninja info cards?" Sasuke repeated

"they're cards I've made that contain information on everyone in this exam, and to make sure no information I haven't shown anyone gets out, the cards only show information when I put my chakra into it" the boy explained

"just who are you?" Shikamaru asked rightfully suspicious

"oh! Have I not introduced myself? I'm Yakushi Kabuto, genin of the leaf"

"you look pretty old for a genin, how many times have you taken the chuunin exams?" Shikamaru asked still suspicious.

"seven times" he said with a smile on his face.

"wow you must suck…" Naruto blurted out.

"Naruto!" Sakura said sharply as she smacked the back of her head.

"sorry…" she grumbled rubbing the back of her head.

With a chuckle Kabuto said "it's fine, besides I wouldn't have been able to gather all this information otherwise. Now say a name and I'll tell you their game" he fanned out the blank cards in front of them, waiting for the first name.

"Sabaku no Gaara and Uzumaki Naruto" Sasuke said before anyone else could suggest any other names.

Everyone looked at him in question at the last name but listened none the less when Kabuto started giving out information "Sabaku no Gaara, is a part of team sand siblings, and as the name implies his teammates and siblings are Sabaku no Temari and Sabaku no Kankuro, they've completed 8 C-rank and 1 B-rank missions, it's been said that he came back from each one without a scratch. Some extra information that the team is composed of the kazekage's children, Gaara is the youngest of the three and he is betrothed to Uzumaki Naruto"

"what!? When did this happen!" Kiba yelled

"that's what I was going to tell you later…" Naruto said putting her hand to her forehead in preparation of the oncoming headache.

"wow that's like marrying a prince!" Ino said excitedly.

"I know right! they doesn't seem to get that though, even if he _is_ slightly homicidal he should still be romantic!" Sakura raged.

"Shut up and sit down in your seats!" boomed the loud voice of a large man wearing a dark trench coat.

"I'm Morino Ibiki and I'm your proctor for the first exam!" he said with a wild grin.

After looking at the test questions and listening to how the proctor worded the rules, it wasn't that hard for Gaara to figure out you had to cheat to pass the test, with little preparation Gaara set his plan into action. Two seats down Hiyori Kima furiously rubbed his eyes after sand suddenly blinded him, distracted he never saw the eye made of sand looking directly at his paper, giving the answers to its creator.

'too simple' Gaara thought as he copied down what he saw through his artificial eye. Rather than dispelling the jutsu Gaara took the time to see how his future spouse was doing, though he was rather disappointed with her progress.

'idiot…though if I'm lucky her stupidity will get her killed later in this exam'

He watched as she doodled all over the her sheet looking as cool as a cucumber, from any other angle it looked as if she was writing down answers no problem but from a bird's-eye view, Gaara could see the only thing she was having no problem with was drawing a rather graphic picture of some fox-like creature devouring civilians on the back of her sheet. it was a nice drawing in his opinion, she even managed to get the blood stains in the fur to look just right. He dissolved the sand eye after Ibiki declared pencils down and that it was time for the tenth question, and listened disinterested, in his opinion this question had a rather simple answer as well.

Genin, chuunin, jounin, none of the ranks really mattered to him, if the fact that he was a genin didn't stop them from sending him on a B-rank mission he was certain it wouldn't keep them from sending him off on more B-rank missions and up if they thought it would sedate his blood lust or kill him in the process, either way they would do almost anything to keep him out of their hair.

Gaara felt a little sense of disappointment when he saw Naruto raise her hand in signal of quitting.

'Well, there goes any hope of legally killing her…' Gaara though before his hopes were raised once more after she slammed her fist back down on her table.

"you expect me to run away from this exam with my tail between my legs because of some stupid question? When I do something, I don't do I half way! So if I've already worked so hard on this test there's no way in hell I'm going to quit now! if I fail, so what? That still won't stop me from becoming the strongest kunoichi anyone's ever seen, still genin or not!" She said fully determined.

Her speech solidified the resolve of everyone else in the room; after making sure no one else was going to leave anymore, the proctor passed everyone still in the room and revealed there was no tenth question. Gaara rolled his eyes after his foolish sister took the time to yell at the proctor asking if the whole test was a complete waste of time.

'in my opinion this whole exam is a waste of time. It won't prove my existence; it would only give me more opportunities to do it myself. By ending the existence of stronger opponents'

Gaara was shook out of his trance when the window down near the front row smashed open; he looked to see a scarcely dressed woman standing in front of a banner that read 'the sexy and single Mitarashi Anko'

"what are you doing here? You're early" grumbled Ibiki as he pushed the banner away from in front of him.

"wow Ibiki you're really losing your touch, there's so many children left. I can't wait to cut them in half" she purred sadistically. Some of the genin became a little uneasy from how she worded her sentence.

"oh please, if hokage-sama let me do my first idea of letting them guess which drink was poisoned we would have much less left. Besides, it seems we have quite the exceptional bunch this year" Ibiki replied with just as much sadism.

'thank god the hokage hasn't gone senile yet!' was the common theme of everyone else's thoughts on the proctors conversation.

"anyways meet me at training ground forty-two in fifteen minutes for your second test!" Anko yelled before jumping back out the window. Taking this as a dismissal the more sensible genin opted to walk through the door. As he was walking down the hall, trailing behind his siblings Gaara stopped to look back when he heard his name being called.

"Gaara! Wait up!" Gaara turned to continue walking when he saw the 'blond haired annoyance' running towards him with her teammates walking some distance behind.

Before he could make it very far Naruto ran in front of him, spreading her arms to obscure his path in the narrow hallway, as he was about to shunshin past her Naruto called out once more.

"Gaara wait, I just wanted to talk to you it won't take long I promise just hear me out!"

With a sigh he glared at her, silently telling her to talk.

Putting her arms back down Naruto said "okay! I know we didn't exactly start off on the right foot but I want to make it right. So can we at least try to be friends?"

Gaara stared at her extended hand as if it were a foreign object 'friends?'

"…sooo can we shake on it?"

"…i…" was all Gaara could say. He was at a complete loss on what to do in a situation like this.

"look I'm not so good at this whole friend making thing either so if I did something wrong I'm sorry…I'll just…give you some time to think on it. Maybe we can try to get along better on our next date" and with that Naruto left to catch up wither team.

Gaara stood in the hall still in shock 'she wants to be my…friend?' using the shunshin Gaara caught up with his team, ignoring his sibling curious stares.

~ Meanwhile in the sensei's lounge~

"hey Kakashi, Uzumaki Naruto is your kid right?" Ibiki asked as he walked in.

"yes" Kakashi responded uninterestedly in favor of his book.

"I think you should talk to her about this" Ibiki said showing them her drawing of the kyuubi killing several villagers.

The other jounin gasped in shock and horror while Kakashi only glanced then returned his attention to his book. "th-that drawing! Do you think she's a danger to the other genin?"

"we should withdraw her from the exam!"

"we can't unless you take her whole team"

"why is she so dangerous?"

"should I collect my team?"

"Kakashi why are you so calm about this!?"

"because I told her to draw" he said not looking up.

"what? Why would you tell her to draw something as disturbing as that! I swear Kakashi if you're influencing your students the wrong way" Kurenai threatened.

Quickly putting his book down Kakashi explained "no, no Kurenai! I told her to use art to express herself or as a hobby when she's bored. I didn't tell her to draw stuff like that; she came up with that on her own. She usually draws violent pictures like that when she wants to threaten Sasuke or is mad at the villagers; which I'm guessing was the case here, other than those times her pictures are rather pleasant"

"well if you say it's okay…" Asuma mumbled before attempting to sneak a cigarette from under Kurenai's watchful gaze.

"well that aside I gotta say she was the only person to pass the test without answering a single question, even the other side is just covered in doodles" Ibiki said with amusement.

"is that even allowed?" some jounin asked.

"yes technically since she got the tenth question correct and all you needed to pass was at least one out of ten"

"at this point I'm not sure if she's genius for not risking to cheat when she knew she couldn't and putting it all on the last question or an idiot for not being able to get the answers. You know you should test her somehow, I gave Shikamaru an IQ test and he turned out to be almost smarter than his dad" Asuma said after giving a sigh as he lost all his cigarettes to Kurenai.

~back with the genin~

"alright kiddies here's your waivers, now just sign 'em and you can go get your scroll and line up for your possible death!" Anko said cheerfully as she handed out the papers. Soon she began saying with a smile on her face "your death is on you, your death is on you, oh and your death is on you too! Don't be scared, we'll be sure to send your remains back home if there's any left"

'maybe I should wait for the next chuunin exam' were the reoccurring thoughts of the genin.

Speaking through a megaphone Anko shouted "my final piece of advice to you is don't die. Alright! opening the gates in three…two…one…go!"

The genin rushed into the forest hoping to get an upper-hand on the competition by setting up traps in advance, but there were some genin teams that were taking their time a little more than the others, in no specific hurry to hunt down prey. One team in particular however, was especially anxious to begin the hunt.

'the sooner he starts killing people, the sooner he'll calm down and won't kill us' were the unspoken prayers of Kankuro and Temari as they watched Gaara leap through the tree branches gripping his head in pain.

'friends…friends!? You don't need them; they'll betray you like Yashamaru did!' Shukaku was currently screaming into Gaara's head.

'don't listen to her lies! Kill her! Kill her now while you're in the forest!'

'but…what if I really can have a friend?' Gaara said back to him hesitantly

'No! no! no!' Shukaku raged, secretly afraid that her friendship would diminish his control over Gaara.

Gaara stopped mid-leap to clutch his head in pain from the sudden intense headache Shukaku racked his brain with, too absorbed in the sudden pain Gaara fell to the forest floor, his sand softening his fall with a muffled thud.

"Gaara!" Temari called out in concern from his sudden collapse, with Kankuro behind her as she jumped down to the ground.

"I'm fine..." Gaara said standing up to brush off any sand as he recalled all of it back into his gourd.

"do…do you want to rest or-"

"_I'm fine"_ Gaara said firmly, cutting off her sentence. She didn't dare question him again after she saw the crazed look in his eyes.

With that they continued to wander the treetops, hopping from branch to branch in search of Gaara's first victim. It didn't take long before they bumped into a team from Kusagakure, who were currently battling with a team from Kirigakure. The two teams were so engrossed in their fight then never saw the wave of sand before it had already grabbed them.

"wh-what the hell!" the girl from the Kiri team yelled.

"this was too easy…no matter, I'm sure mother would still enjoy your blood" Gaara said emotionlessly as he began to constrict the captured nin.

"w-wait! Wait! If you let me and my team go, I'll give you our scroll!" said one of the captured boys from the Kusa team.

"no, don't do it! There's no guarantee he'll let us go!" shouted his other male teammate

"it's our only chance!" he yelled back

Gaara loosened the sands grip on the boy so he could reach into his pocket, and then watched as the thrown scroll landed near his feet. It was an earth scroll, not the one they needed. Then Gaara turned to the Kiri team.

"and you?"

"f-fine" the girl said as she too reached into her waist pouch to retrieve the scroll.

Gaara's sand shield flew up in his defence when the girl threw shriken in his direction instead of the scroll.

"big mistake" Kankuro said as he watched Gaara crush the Kiri team without batting an eyelash.

"n-now can you let us go" the first boy from the Kusa team stammered, feeling extremely sick after seeing and hearing the team they were previously fighting get crushed into a paste, and knowing it could happen to them next.

"no" Gaara said without hesitation

"what! B-but we-" the boy didn't get the chance to finish speaking before they too were crushed into unidentifiable hunks of bloodied meat, bones, and fabric.

Using his sand to rifle through the remains of the team that was first to go, Gaara picked out a blood stained heaven scroll from the gooey remains of a boy who was in the pile of mess next to what used to be the girl who attacked him. Taking the scroll from the sand and picking up the other scroll from the ground Gaara tossed them towards his siblings, Kankuro grimaced as he caught the gore covered scroll and pocketed it.

"well that was fast…anyways since we have all the scrolls can we go to the tower?" Temari said hopefully, although she already had a feeling what the answer would be.

"no, not yet" Gaara said coldly

"we'll find people on the way there, I'm certain there will be at least two teams waiting there to ambush someone" Kankuro reasoned, wanting to get out of the forest as soon as possible.

"_no" _Gaara said angrily, wanting to find the other Kusa nin from earlier. The one who gave the second exam proctor her kunai back with her tongue, he could sense she was powerful.

"why can't you listen to your big brother for once? There will be other people to kill on the way there so can we just go?" Kankuro argued back.

"shut up. I've never once thought of you as my siblings, if you get in my way I'll kill you" Gaara said as the sand on the ground shifted.

"don't say such cold things Gaara, if the person you want to fight so much is that strong then I'm sure you'll have the chance to fight them in the next test. the third part of the exam is always a tournament, so can you please just listen to your big sister's reasoning and kill him and a bunch of people then instead?" Temari said begging.

Gaara continued to menacingly glare at Kankuro as he held out his open hand, sand particles began to float in the air.

"Gaara!" Temari yelled pleading.

"fine" Gaara said as he used the sand to return the cork to his gourd, plugging it shut. he leapt back into the canopy heading towards the tower, not looking back to see if they were following. With a sigh of relief, Kankuro and Temari soon followed his lead.

When the tower was in sight was when it happened, with a smirk Gaara dropped down from the trees landing in front of a team from Amegakure.

"so it's the sand brats huh? How foolish, challenging us head on" the leader of the team said cockily.

Gaara let his sand flow out of the gourd. For a moment they stared each other down before the man said "you'll die here today"

But Gaara only responded intimidated "enough talk let's do this"

"Gaara we already have what we need, can we just move on" Kankuro asked

"no. those who meet with my eyes must die" Gaara said filling the air with killing intent

"bah! Then lets hurry up and begin!" the man yelled before tossing several umbrella into the air.

"die brat!" he yelled before saying "Ninpou: raining needles"

several senbon came shooting out from the umbrellas raining down on them as the jutsu's title described. Using his sand to knock them away, the man laughed completely unfazed "hah! There's no escape from this jutsu! All the senbon are controlled by my chakra so there's no way they can miss their prey!" as the senbon collided with Gaara, dust was kicked up in the air.

'too easy' the man thought. But was shocked when the dust cleared to show Gaara was completely unharmed, the needles were stuck in a shield made of sand. "is that it?" Gaara asked as he peered out at the man through a gap in the sand.

"no…no way…not a single one…he came out unscathed…" the man muttered to himself, shocked.

Attempting to attack him again the man threw more senbon at Gaara through the gap, only to have them blocked by the sand once more.

'no way a jutsu like that would work against Gaara…it was just bad luck on your part to run into him' Kankuro thought as he watched Gaara toy with the man.

"a rain of needles eh? Well I guess I'll have to make it rain blood!" Gaara said as he watched the man begin to panic.

"a shield of sand?" the man asked confused

Kankuro took this as the time to explain the workings of Gaara's ultimate defence "yes, it's his sand based total defence. The sand is packed into the gourd with chakra, a jutsu that only Gaara can use. The sand comes out to defend Gaara and the surrounding area, plus it happens regardless of his will, for some reason it happens automatically. Basically attacks, especially one like that, are useless against Gaara"

"b-but that's not possible! Those needles can pierce through five millimeters of steel!" the man said panicking as the sand began creep closer.

"you can't beat our Gaara" Kankuro said with a smirk as he watched the man begin to sweat.

"sh-shut up!" the man yelled as he charged towards them, running past the tendrils of sand that were previously crawling towards him.

'he's dead' were Kankuro's thoughts as he watched the man futilely run towards them.

Making a single hand sign and a gesture Gaara said "desert coffin" causing the nearby sand to envelope the man.

'I can't move!' he thought as he struggled against the sands restraints, feeling himself slowly getting crushed by the second.

"in the air and on the ground, sand can be controlled by Gaara's will" said Temari picking up where Kankuro left off, as she spoke she grabbed one of the three nearby umbrellas imbedded into the ground from the ame nin's attack.

As the man began to grunt and cry out Gaara said "shut up before I cover your mouth and kill you. But that's too pitiful…" as he spoke he too grabbed an umbrella.

Raising his hand in the air, Gaara closed his fist, 'desert graveyard' he thought before causing the amenin to explode in a rain of blood, just as he had promised.

"no pain because I killed him quickly…as blood mixes with the sand I become more powerful" Gaara said as he looked to the rest of the team.

"our-our scroll! We'll give it to you!" one of the remaining members said as the put their heaven scroll on the ground. But it wasn't what Gaara wanted anymore. Holding out both hands he commanded the sand to capture them "bye-bye" Temari said cheerfully, smiling as she waves to the soon to be liquid men.

With another desert graveyard he quickly ended them.

"great now let's get to the tower!" Kankuro said after picking up the other scroll to complete their now second set. with a glare Gaara relented, leaving team eight to cower in the bushes.

From there everything went smoothly, they made it to the tower in what was apparently record time according to the chuunin that informed them of the true meaning of the clue to the scrolls. It was rather hard for them to understand the man when he kept stuttering in fear, though his fear was understandable due to being the target of Gaara's harsh glare. With four extra days of nothing to do, the chuunin showed them to their room in the tower where they promptly showered. Even if Gaara didn't get a spec of dirt on him, he was still conscious of the amount of blood that was in the sand he used to cover himself.

It was well into the night that Gaara stood out on the balcony in their shared room, enjoying the view of the starry night sky. As he stared intently on the crescent moon, Gaara took the moment of calm to think to himself and away from Shukaku.

'she wants to be my friend? Something like this has never happened before…I think that's why mother is so troubled' the small part of Gaara's mind that was still a lonely deprived child jumped at the chance of finally making a friend, but the larger and more jaded part of his mind couldn't help but doubt.

'what if she's like Yashamaru and betrays me…do I even care anymore? At this point my memories of the good times with uncle Yashamaru are getting more distant every day. My memories of being seen as something human…something that was loved'

Gaara always enjoyed going outside during the night, for him it was a time of peace and tranquility. He often enjoyed going for walks in the abandoned streets or just sitting on the roof to think. Gaara wished the world could be plunged into eternal night, unlike other people who thought when the sun goes down the scary things come out, to Gaara it was like the scary things just disappeared, along with their fearful and judging eyes.

It was the daytime that was horrible; it was so busy and loud, bright and hot, not to mention the looks. Looks ranging from hatred to disgust, but the worst ones were the people who didn't even look at him; it was as if they were looking through him. But the ones he hated the most were the looks of pity, those were the ones that burnt him up inside. He didn't need their pity, they were the pitiful ones who couldn't wield nor destroy the weapon they created. This was why he liked it better in the dark; unlike in the daylight he couldn't see their multitude of judgmental stares.

The more Gaara thought of it, the more he desired it. He wished hard enough to even reach out with his arm and clench his fist in front of him, as if he could grab the moon and capture it for himself. Unknown to him, a pair of eyes were watching him in the dark.

Kankuro watched as Gaara looked out into the sky from the balcony, he was shocked by how calm Gaara looked as he star gazed. 'huh, I guess I kinda figured he just spent all night glaring at us as we slept' Kankuro thought as he watched Gaara reach out to the night sky, appearing to grab nothing. 'he looks…sort of harmless' Kankuro thought before closing his eyes once more, returning to the world of sleep before he was caught watching.

As two days passed and more teams entered the tower, they spent most of their time either wandering the building separately, fixing or polishing their kunai and or other specialized weapons, or sleeping/meditating. As Gaara walked past the medical wing he stopped when he heard a familiar voice.

"Gaara? Oh hey! what are you doing here, did you get hurt?" turning around Gaara could see Naruto running towards him.

"want to get lunch? Sasuke is still unconscious and Sakura-chan is staying with him so I would be all alone" Naruto explained as she walked along beside him. Well…he hadn't had lunch yet anyways…

-omake-

Sweat dripped down Sakura's face as she rested on the floor. Heavily panting she begged "please Sasuke… I can't take much more"

From on top of her with sweat also coating her body Naruto said in a hoarse voice "Sasuke…take me instead, I have better stamina"

"only if Kakashi joins in again…"came the sadistic purr of Sasuke.

With a heavy sigh, Kakashi said "these kinds of student-teacher relationships are frown upon…but if I must"

"good. Now get down there" Sasuke commanded.

'this can't be good for my back!' were the tear-ridden thoughts of Kakashi as he painfully kneeled and hunched over in front of Sasuke with Naruto right beside him.

"Begin"

Speaking in the perfect synchronization they were trained to, Kakashi and Naruto spoke in unison "Sasuke's etiquette rule number one: do not point at people. Sasuke's etiquette rule number two: do not talk with your mouth full. Sasuke's etiquette rule number three: do not-" Naruto stopped mid-sentence to cough before massaging her sore throat.

"Again" Sasuke demanded.

"b-but we've been doing this for hours!" Kakashi complained.

"well we wouldn't have to waste a second on it if you all knew how to behave in public. Now again. This time Sakura will join back in" he ruthlessly commanded as he cracked his leather whip mere inches away from them. They'd all been whipped by Sasuke at one point and another, and they all agreed (besides Sakura who was still on the fence) that it wasn't nice. Groaning, the ill-mannered members of team seven continued to recite the lines by memory.

Aaaand done! Wow sorry this took so long! For a while I was just enjoying summer's gift of sleeping in but then I kept stalling on writing the next chapter but I eventually managed to break the ice! only to be distracted once more… so you all have cuervo ryoko to thank for this update since they're the person who inspired me to get back to typing (thank you everyone for your support too) anyways you better enjoy this cuz I stayed up till 5:07 am to finish this so I could post it for you later in the day (I usually do this to make sure what I was thinking when I write chapters still makes sense after I've left that mind set) and the next update will hopefully take a shorter amount of time! and gotta say i really had fun with the omake so expect some in the future ^.^


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